


My Teenage Sister Is Pregnant So I Guess I Am An Uncle Now

by ServantOfMischief



Series: Soft Comforts [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gay Crowley (Good Omens), Just so you know a little bit about how Crowley is in this series, Prequel to So Hey I Drew You In A Coffee Shop Before Christmas You're Welcome, Teen Pregnancy, how do I even tag stuff, mentions of cheating, supportive big brother Crowley, supportive big sister Beelzebub
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 15:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20623358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ServantOfMischief/pseuds/ServantOfMischief
Summary: Crowley is quite satisfied with how things are working out right now. Things are a little awkward at home but it's been that way for years now. What he doesn't expect, is finding his teenage sister outside his flat in the dark.I do not consent to my work being reposted, or used in any unofficial apps like Fanfic Pocket Archive Library (Unofficial) or the like!





	My Teenage Sister Is Pregnant So I Guess I Am An Uncle Now

**Author's Note:**

> I do not consent to my work being reposted, or used in any unofficial apps like Fanfic Pocket Archive Library (Unofficial) or the like!

Crowley is halfway through his fourth year at university. He’s rather pleased with his progress too, and his grades. Of course, it’s easier to learn when he’s studying something he is actually interested in. He just returned to his apartment a couple of weeks ago from having been home at Christmas, and he’s glad for it, not envying Babylon still being stuck there with their parents. Well, she’s also the lesser rebel out of the three of them so it’s easier for her to be home anyways. At least she’s not being berated for every little thing she does.

He hopes so at least, despite the fact that something had seemed… off about her last time he visited. Mom and dad were as awkward as they’ve been around him for the past two years and that is nothing new, but Babylon had been… she’d been rather closed off and jumpy around him, and that bothers him greatly. He’s not sure what has caused her to be like this, because he can’t recall doing anything that would make her pull away. Babylon knew about him being gay long before he came out to his parents, and she had never been bothered about it, so it can’t be that.

Can it?

Unless their parents have really taken it to the extreme and decided that they can’t deal with his homosexuality and have made it very uncomfortable for Babylon, and tries to have her believe it’s really wrong and unnatural. And is actually managing to do so. Crowley’d rather like to think that Babylon isn’t that easily manipulated. That she won’t stop loving her big brother just because he isn’t how their parents want him to be. He’s closing the flower shop he’s part-timing at, checking his phone as he heads back home, pausing when he sees that he has three missed calls from his younger sibling.

It’s not unwelcome, but it’s weird. Babylon usually just waits for him to call her back when he doesn’t answer the first time, she’s patient and rational like that. Her calling him several times without luck, that means something’s up, doesn’t it? Crowley grows slightly worried, and jogs back to his apartment, deciding that he wants to be home by the time he calls her back. There’s a safety in being inside in his own home when calling someone, being worried about the other person, but when he leaps up the last steps of the stairs to his flat, he pauses because there, right outside his door, Babylon and a large, bright green bag sits, knees drawn up to her chest, face hiding behind them, arms wrapped tightly around her legs and she’s _shaking_. There’s something rather unsettling about seeing his teenage sister sitting in the dark outside his flat in London.

“Babylon? What are you doing here?” Considering the time, and how their family lives in a small village two hours out of London, it is rather unusual, oh who is he kidding? He is worried as fuck. It doesn’t make him any less worried when she looks up at him with a tear-stained face. She looks horrible, and scared, and his big-brother heart aches. She doesn’t move, just watches him hurry over and kneel in front of her.

“Hey, what’s wrong, kiddo?” And she breaks, reaching out for him as her legs fall down and just falls into him, crying even more. Loud sobs tearing from her throat as she tries to tell him what is going on, or he thinks she’s trying, but it all sounds so garbled and jumbled up he can’t make any sense of it. So he tries to help her up on her feet, and it takes time because she doesn’t have any strength left in her so he has to take two trips. He unlocks the door and leads her in, carefully depositing her on the couch before he retrieves her bag and hauls it inside. It’s heavy, like she’s got all of her things in it, and he frowns. She’s still crying on the couch, and he just holds her, lets her cry it all out and calm herself down. It takes ages, but he can’t bring himself to make her talk while she cries, not like this. When she’s just quietly sniffing, inhaling and exhaling shuddering breaths, he pulls back a bit. He takes one long look at her before he dares to ask, hoping she won’t break apart again.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I messed up.” Her lower lip wobbles and for a moment he thinks she’s about to break out into tears again, but she just sighs, sinking further into his embrace. He wants to say it can’t be that bad, because Babylon has, unlike him and Beelzebub, made it a habit of not getting into trouble, but considering she’s here, and not at home…

“What happened?” She looks so scared when she looks up, like she’s expecting the worst from him as she says the words. It hurts.

“I’m pregnant.” And that makes no sense, because Babylon is seventeen, Babylon is just a kid herself, Babylon is the perfect model child their parents finally got after the two fuck-ups named Beelzebub and Anthony. But she looks so scared, and sad and lost and Babylon doesn’t lie to him, not about something as serious as this. So he nods, shows that he understands and believes her.

“Okay. So you’re pregnant, okay.” He processes the information and blinks. “Does Oliver know?” She nods. Okay, her boyfriend knows, good, or maybe not, who knows? What makes him pause next is a question he’d rather not ask because Babylon might not think it a pleasant task to answer, but considering the situation… He asks anyway, as carefully as he can.

“Sorry, I have to ask, were you careless? Like, uh, heat of the moment?” She shakes her head, hiccupping.

“First time, condom broke.” That is horrible luck, truly, and she can’t be faulted for having sex. She’s at that age isn’t she, and she and Oliver have been together for years. So Crowley isn’t that surprised that they have had a go at it. It’s pretty normal that teenagers have sex, right, and Babylon and Oliver had at the very least made a conscious decision to practice safe sex. It just had a pretty unlucky outcome considering their age. They haven’t been stupid about it, they were just unlucky with the protection. But now he dreads asking his next questions.

“Why did you come here?”

“I’ve got nowhere else to go.” She’s got Beelzebub, but it’s further away. Crowley is the closest, but that… it makes no sense. Or rather, Crowley really does not want to believe what he’s starting to think.

“Mom and dad knows?” Babylon nod again and a fresh wave of tears escape her.

“They threw me out. Don’t throw me out, Anthony, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’m sorry, don’t leave me!” And the response he had expected when he came out to his parents has been thrown at Babylon instead for something that is an accident. And she needs them more than Crowley does, and Crowley can’t believe that this happened to her, because she doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. So he pulls her close and presses a kiss to the top of her head and rocks her, promising that he won’t throw her out, that she can stay for as long as she wants, and that he supports her no matter what she decides to do. They stay up half the night, before he tucks her in in his bed, and crashes on the couch, sending a text to a classmate, asking for tomorrows lecture’s notes, telling him he doesn’t feel well, and a text to Beelzebub that they need to talk.

The next morning, when Crowley wakes up, he wonders if it all was just a bad dream, but then he realizes that he’s fully clothed in yesterday’s clothes, and that Babylon’s bright green bag is by the door. This is very much real, and now that he isn’t embracing a hysterically sobbing teen with a lot on her plate, he suddenly feels angry.

Really, properly angry.

Babylon is seventeen. Yeah, sure, she’ll be eighteen in a couple of months, she’ll finish high school this year and go off to college, or that had been her plan at least, but she is still just a teen. A teen that did what most other teens do, and was just unlucky with the faulty rubber. She’s young, she’s scared and she’s been abandoned by the people she needs the most right now, the people who know what to do, the people who should have loved her and accepted her no matter what she does. Crowley wonders how Oliver’s parents reacted? Did they throw him out too? The redhead doubts it, they’re so old-fashioned over there. They probably just dumped all the blame on Babylon, despite the fact that you need two to tango. It pisses him off. He leaps off the couch and manhandles the coffee maker in his endeavour of making some coffee. He needs it, badly, or else he won’t be good company for anyone, least of all the terrified teenager occupying his bedroom. He gets a text from Beelzebub, finally, asking what’s going on for him to text so late in the evening the other day and say they have to talk. It is out of character for him, isn’t it? He rarely calls, merely texts now and then to ask how things are.

Crowley doesn’t feel like he can talk to Beelzebub before making sure it’s okay for Babylon, so he ignores it until the blonde shuffles into the tiny living room an hour or two later. Crowley isn’t keeping track of time well right now, but he knows he’s on his third cup of coffee. She looks horrible, but he keeps that to himself. She doesn’t need to hear it, she probably knows it. He pats the space beside him on the couch and she curls up beside him. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, sipping his coffee and they just sit like that for a long while.

“Is it okay to tell Beelzebub?” He asks quietly and Babylon’s breath hitches, before she swallows, looking up at him. She is scared, so, so scared of Beelzebub’s scorn and he pulls her closer. It is such a terrible thing to believe, that everyone will turn their back on her now just because their parents did. But then again, if they didn’t have a problem with throwing her out, then how can Babylon so easily trust anyone else.

“Beelzebub won’t be angry.”

“Yes, she will!” Babylon whimpers and Crowley purses his lips. Beelzebub has quite the temper, that is true. Then again, so does he.

“Not with you.” He assures and she sniffles, but nods.

“Do you want me to do it, or do you want to do it yourself?”

“Speaker. Put her on speaker, please.” Like that, they can both talk to her, and that is a safety net for Babylon, he realizes. So Crowley dials their eldest sibling’s number, and after three rings she answers. Babylon tenses beside him.

“_Finally. So, what’s so damn important that you of all people actually grace me with a call.”_ Well, they’re off to a fantastic start already, but before Crowley can tell her to get over herself and just listen, Babylon speaks up.

“It’s because of me.” Her voice cracks halfway through and there’s a pause on the other end as the oldest of the three are trying to piece together why their youngest sibling is at Crowley’s place, when she should be home, or better yet, why she’s there when she should be at school.

“_What is going on?” _Babylon starts to talk, but breaks down pretty quickly, turning towards her big brother and just burrowing into his arms. Beelzebub is thankfully quiet on the other end, and despite probably wanting to know why her little sister is a mess, she waits for someone to get back to her.

“She’s pregnant.” Crowley says as he rocks the blonde and Beelzebub sucks in air on the other side. Babylon tenses, trying to steel herself from the shouting that will no doubt be thrown at her, and Crowley adds.

“Mom and dad threw her out.”

“_They _what?!” And there it is, the temper, and Babylon whimpers, but Crowley quietly assures her that Beelzebub isn’t angry with her. There’s the sound of rummaging on the other end, the sound of a laptop being turned on and angry muttering before Beelzebub speaks again.

“_I’m coming over. Make room for me.” _

“There isn’t any more room.”

“_Make it! I’m coming home.” _

_“_Beelzebub-“ Babylon begins but Beelzebub cuts her off.

“_I’m coming home, Babylon. We’ll figure this out, okay?” _There is a sharp edge of determination in her voice, but also a soft little kindness she reserves only for the youngest of them.

“Okay.”

“_Good. See in a couple of hours.” _

“Seriously-“ But Beelzebub ends the call before Crowley can say anything more and the two are left alone.

“See?” Crowley says with a small smile. “Not angry with you.” And Babylon sobs in relief. That’s all she’s been doing the last twenty-four hours, crying and crying and she’s sick of it, but she can’t stop it. She just can’t stop crying. Because she is still so scared, she’s still so very, very scared.

“We’re going to figure this out, okay? Whatever you chose to do, I’m here, okay? I’ll be with you all the way, and I’m sure Beelzebub will be too. It’ll be fine, everything will be fine.”

“Will it? Even if I keep it?” Crowley nods. He doesn’t know how it’ll go if she does, but he’s going to be there for her. He can’t influence her choice in this, no one can. She must make her own choice, and all he can do is support her when she needs it.

“Even if you keep it. Can I ask?”

“Ask what? If I’ve thought about it?”

“No. Well, yeah, that too. But I meant Oliver. What did he say? Does his parents know?” Babylon nods.

“That’s how mom and dad found out. They told them.” And again Crowley feels a surge of anger, because they had absolutely _no right_, and he wants to go home, knock on their door, and tell them just that. Because who the hell do they think they are? But Babylon had not said anything about Oliver, so Crowley asks again.

“And Oliver?”

“He denied everything.”

_“That little shit!”_ The redhead isn’t aware he said it out loud before Babylon shrinks in on herself again. He pulls her back a bit, makes her look him in the eye as he wipes the tears away again. He expects he’ll be doing this for some time yet.

“Listen, Babylon, it takes two to tango. And it’s easy to prove that he is the dad. So if you’re not opposed to it, a test can be done, yeah? And listen, no matter what happens, I swear I’ll be by your side. All the way. Do you believe me?”

“You’ve ne-never lied to me before.” She attempts a chuckle and he smiles at her.

“Damn right I haven’t.”

Beelzebub arrives during midday. Beelzebub is not a hugger. She detests such mushy types of physical contact. That’s why it surprises Babylon so much when she latches onto the teen and holds her so tightly it almost hurts. And finally, finally Babylon can start believing that it really will be okay. Because Beelzebub already has half a plan formed, and once she has the rest of the information, she is damn well ready to tear her home village apart with all the dirty secrets she has of their own family, and Oliver’s too. Crowley is quite surprised to hear a lot of them, and wonders if they aren’t actually going to literally leap across several lines. Beelzebub shrugs.

“I know how far I can go. I’m a lawyer.” Crowley wonders why their parents didn’t like that, that Beelzebub is making a career for herself. Then again, their mother is more than happy with just being a housewife. She probably expected that of both Beelzebub and Babylon. Crowley finds the notion absolutely ridiculous.

Beelzebub would be a terrible housewife.

“Okay, so here is how it’ll go. Babylon.” Beelzebub turned towards the teenager. “You’ve got the reins here. I’ll tell you what I’ve thought out, and you’ll tell me what you don’t want us to do, or if you’ve got something to add. We’re doing this for you, so you have to be comfortable with it, okay?” And the teenager nods, and the dark-haired woman explains what she’s come up with already. There is precious little Babylon is against.

And Crowley realizes just how malicious their sweet, younger sibling can be when given the right motivation.

\---XXX---XXX---XXx

Anthony J. Crowley is surprised by the amount of mayhem Beelzebub manage to create at their home, with threats of letting it slip to the rest of the village. It had started so, well, frightening is the only word he can use that aptly describes the whole scenario. Their parents, so cold and detached, speaking about Babylon as if she wasn’t even in the room with them, as if she was nothing to them. Crowley had seen the tears well in her eyes, had grasped her hand in his and squeezed, trying to silently comfort her. Beelzebub chose a different direction, with unveiling secrets their parents had between each other, and from the village.

“You’re so worried about what others think? What’ll happen when they realize that you two only married because you were pregnant with me? Ooooh, sex outside of wedlock, _what would the neighbours say?_” They paled and the malicious smile on Beelzebub’s face is, well, disturbing, to say the least.

“You’re so old fashioned, I could ruin you entirely with just that, but I’ve got so much more.” It had grown into a heated shouting match between their parents and Beelzebub, going along the lines of “_How dare you?”,_ “_We’re respectable people” _and _“You’ve got no right!”. _

“You’re not respectable people when you throw out your kid just because she had a bit of bad luck. Especially since she was actually a whole lot smarter about it than you two were back in your day. The hypocrisy is laughable!” Beelzebub snaps, and Crowley is amazed by the sheer amount of redness their faces contain. Every single drop of blood in their bodies must be in their heads by now.

“We did not raise her to be a harlot!” The sheer force of Babylon’s flinch rattles her brother. To hear their own mother talk about her youngest daughter in such a way, with such disgust in her voice, it makes him feel bad. This is the reaction he had expected towards himself when he came out as gay. They hadn’t thrown him out, hadn’t even yelled at him, but there was a distance, ever since then. And he just can’t help it, and finds himself talking.

“When I came out as gay, you didn’t throw me out, even though that must have the worst thing that could happen to you, if it got out in church. Why are you so cruel to Babylon?” And the argument, which begun to evolve into a screaming match, is put on hold.

“It’s wrong, it is, _what_ you are-“ that stung- “but you can’t help it. She could have avoided it by keeping her pants on.”

“So could you have.” He snaps, suddenly, angry now, and not just confused and sad on Babylon’s behalf. “Oliver could have kept his pants on too, and we wouldn’t be here now. Is Oliver being treated the same way?”

“Oliver hasn’t done anything-“

“_Of fucking course he has!_ It takes fucking two to tango, you idiots!”

“He said he hasn’t had sex with her!”

“And you believe _him _over _her? Seriously?” _

“What do you expect us to do here? Do you really think we’ll take her back in now?” It’s barely been thirty hours since the whole incident, there are ways to save face, but Crowley decides right then and there that he doesn’t want to give his parents that opportunity.

“Mother says that because I am not your father’s daughter.” Beelzebub says as casually as if she was commenting on the weather, and there’s a silence hanging heavily in the air. Their father turns towards their mother, who is paling quite quickly.

“Just because she slept around when she was a teen, she thinks no better of Babylon.” And this comes as a shock to all of them. Crowley and Babylon certainly didn’t know about this, but Beelzebub is merely checking her nails as she waits for the storm to hit.

“Okay… er, okay. Babylon.” Crowley turns towards her. “I said it before, you’re welcome to stay with me during the whole, er, thing, and even after. I’ll take care of you, yeah? I’ll support you. I don’t want you staying here, or anywhere near here. It’s… it’s not healthy. This place isn’t healthy, it’s as bloody toxic as it can get.” And she nods with a determination he has yet to see in her since she showed up on his doorstep, grabbing his hands and standing up, pulling him along with her.

“I’ve got absolutely nothing to say to either of you, except that I understand now how absolutely terrible you two are, and I am glad I am _nothing_ like you. Also, I am more than willing to do a paternity test, and when it comes out positive that Oliver’s the dad, I am going to come back here and announce it, with a bloody loudspeaker!” Apparently, if they are going to cast Babylon out, then she’s going to make a remarkable spectacle about it. Beelzebub looks almost proud of her. Crowley wants to see it all happen, record it if possible, just to have a moment to savour for some time.

They can make annual sibling-gatherings just watching it over and over again.

“I’ll see about getting you moved to a school in London. It’ll be a bit in the last moment, but I’ll get to it.” Beelzebub says as she gets up on her feet to follow them.

“You can’t do that!” Their mother yells suddenly. “You can’t just change her school, suddenly!”

“Well _you_ threw her out. You’ve got no bloody say!” Crowley snaps, and the woman takes a step back in surprise at the fury in his voice.

“You’ve never been a good mom, actually, you’ve always been a shit mom! When Beelzebub was old enough to move out, I envied her. When I was old enough, I was _literally_ jumping for joy. This house is fucking toxic.”

“Anthony.” Babylon squeezes his hand, looks up at him in a way that makes him calm down a little bit.

“We’re leaving. And you’ve got nothing to say about it!” He says as calmly as he can, which isn’t all that calm, really. But he leads Babylon outside, and Beelzebub follows closely, and once out, Babylon grabs Beelzebub’s hand too.

“Thank you. Both of you.” She says.

“Anytime.” The two older siblings reply simultaneously. They head towards the station, and find themselves having to wait an hour for the next train back to London. As they settle themselves on a bench, Beelzebub looking quite intimidating with her glare, Babylon slightly anxious with her hands clasped together in her lap, and Crowley like he’s in deep thoughts with his legs stretched out and his sunglasses atop his head. They sit silently, none of them having anything to say at the moment. Crowley glances at his wristwatch, thinks about how much time he has, before he climbs to his feet.

“Anthony?”

“Just going for a walk.” He says, sauntering away. He waits by the little shortcut from high school, that Beelzebub, he and in turn Babylon, used to get to and from school. He checks his wristwatch again, noting that it shouldn’t be long now. And lo and behold, there comes the teenager. He’s walking alone, grinning at something on his phone and Crowley finds his mouth twisting into a snarl. Babylon’s been crying her eyes out for over a whole day, but here he is, going about his life as if nothing’s changed. Crowley will admit, he wants to trash the kid, but that’s not going to help anyone. He stands still as the teen continues to walk closer, not even looking up, until he walks straight into the redhead. He scowls as he looks up, only to pale at the sight of the other man.

“Hello, Oliver.” The boy takes a step back, but finds himself rooted to the spot as the older man grabs his shoulder, smiling chillingly at him.

“You and I need to talk.”

* * *

Babylon is six months along now, and she and Crowley live together in a slightly bigger apartment. It’s only bigger on the account of having an extra bedroom, and they only managed that because Beelzebub has made an account for Babylon and is continuously shoving small amounts of money into it, and because Crowley has taken on a teacher assistant job at his university alongside with his part-time job at the flower shop. Babylon has accepted that she can’t actually enlist into a school while being so pregnant, especially considering that she has to go and have maternity leave too, so she looked up online courses and are doing them. She seems to be doing a whole lot better now, Crowley reports to Beelzebub over the phone. She’s certainly returned to act like her old self, and that is a relief to the both of them.

_“So, how’s the cravings and mood swings-“ _

“Bloody hell, Anthony! _Did you eat my cupcake?”_ Babylon screams from the kitchen so loudly he almost drops his coffee mug.

“Jesus fucking- does that answer it for you?”

“_I’ll leave you to it.” _

“No, Beelz, don’t leave me-“ But she’s already ended the call and he glares at the phone. “Fucking coward-“

“_Anthony J. Crowley_-“

“No I didn’t take your bloody cupcake! You finished the last one yesterday!” He shouts back, setting his coffee cup on the table and sauntering towards the kitchen.

“I’ll go out and buy some more though, if you really want one.” He tells her, leaning against the doorframe. She huffs, but wiggles past him. It’s kind of hard in the tiny doorway and her stomach.

“No, I can do it myself. Is there anything you want?”

“Nah, not really. Sure you don’t want me to do it? Or come along?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks though. You have a thesis to work on. I’ll get you some more coffee, I think we’re running out.” He _has_ been drinking an unholy amount of the bitter beverage for the last few months. He should probably be a bit careful, before he afflicts himself with an ulcer.

“Right, thanks.” He says as she pulls on her jacket and boots. She smiles and waves before she’s out the door. The redhead shakes his head, rolling his shoulders.

“Bloody nightmare, those cravings.” He mutters, though it really isn’t that bad. Babylon just turns really _sharp_ sometimes.

It takes an hour and a half before Crowley realizes Babylon’s been gone for too long. He realizes that he might need a break too, as his legs feel rather stiff, and shuts his laptop and deposits it on the table, before ambling over to the door, pulling on his shoes and a jacket, but just as he opens the door, he sees her standing there, a bag in her hand.

“You were out long, what were- you okay?” He asks when he sees the rather drawn out expression on her face. He moves aside and pulls her in, taking the grocery bag from her and carefully making her look at him. He asks again, and she looks so confused, conflicted and sad.

“I saw Oliver.” And they find themselves on the couch, Babylon with a cup of hot cocoa and Crowley with his coffee, and she explains to him how her ex-boyfriend had begged to talk to her, and then showered her in words of how he really loved her, how he was sorry he had panicked and let her deal with all of this on her own, how he wants them to try again, that he wants to be part of their baby’s life. He’s willing to marry her, if she wants that, really.

“Don’t.” Crowley says and she raises a brow at him. “Er, I mean, not like this. Think it through, yeah? I mean… you’re still just eighteen. It’s fine to be just in a relationship, yeah? We’re not living in a society where you _have_ to marry the guy who, uh, fathered your child.” There are many reasons as to why Crowley tells her this, but the main one and the most important to him is the fact that he doesn’t trust Oliver to actually do good on his promise. He doesn’t trust the kid to be any good for Babylon, not after how he had acted when he ran into Crowley back then. In Crowley’s opinion, he’s a spoiled little shit with parents who don’t think he can do anything wrong, ever, and therefore he doesn’t know how to properly take responsibility for anything. For something as important as Babylon and her baby, yeah, Crowley doesn’t trust that Oliver will be any good. Not yet, at least. Maybe he can be, but he isn’t right now.

“Yeah. You’ve… You’ve got a point. Don’t want to end up like mum and dad. Besides… I haven’t forgiven him yet. Yeah, he is a kid, but so am I. I was no more prepared for this mess than he was, it was just a whole lot easier for him to play it off and claim innocence. So, no. Not going to marry him. At least not like this. Pretty sure that he said it just because I outed him too.” Crowley remembers that final time they were at their childhood home, with the results from the paternity test. The expressions on everyone’s faces… Crowley still regrets that he didn’t take a picture. Or fifty. Because that had been a really funny moment. How Oliver had paled and looked really scared, how Beelzebub calmly explained that just because he wanted nothing to do with the baby Babylon carries, he still have to pay for child support. How all four of their parents literally looked about ready to explode. Oh yeah, for Crowley that had been the best show he’s ever seen, but Babylon had been rather anxious about it. Yet she had appeared to feel so much better afterwards.

“There’s my smart girl.” He murmurs and she shrugs, rolling her eyes at him.

“Just because I’m pregnant, and my hormones are on an emotional rollercoaster, it does not mean I’m stupid.”

“Never said that.” Crowley says, carefully avoiding incriminating himself. “So, he wants to be part of the kid’s life, huh? He going to be here for the whole shebang?” Babylon laughs at that, loudly, shaking her head.

“He said so, but I don’t think I want him in there with me. I’d rather have you, really.” And Crowley’s touched to hear it. So he pulls her close and tells her that even if she changes her mind when the time comes, he’ll be fine. Because if Oliver is honestly wanting to make a proper attempt, actually wants to be a family, and if Babylon wants it too, he’ll be the good big brother who steps back and allows it to happen.

The good big brother who’ll stay on the side lines, hopefully never having to jump forward to catch her from a second fall. She tells him again that she really doesn’t want another scared teenager in there with her, so that he better suck it up and steel himself. Crowley laughs at that.

Oliver is not there when, as Crowley so beautifully dubbed it, _shit is going down_. He’s frantic over the phone, calling Beelzebub and telling her to hurry the fuck up back to London because _it is fucking happening, damnit. Fuck. _He tries calling Oliver too, at the behest of Babylon, who has actually given the boy a second chance to fix things between them and it had seemed to go so well too, but the other man isn’t picking up. Crowley snarls, texts him and shoves his phone into his pant pocket, focusing rather on being there for Babylon, who is trying her best to keep calm, and breathe.

It takes hours, and Beelzebub is in there with them until it actually happens, dabbing at the sweat on the blonde’s forehead as she tries to smile through the pain. When the doctor and nurses tell them it’s time, only one of them are allowed to stay. Crowley wants to ask Babylon if she’d rather have her sister with her inside, but Beelzebub has fled the room before he can, and a whimper and quiet pleading has Crowley moving over to the bed, holding his little sister’s hand.

‘_Fuck you, Beelz.’_ He thinks as Babylon squeezes his hand so hard it throbs.

When Babylon is finally holding a tiny little bundle in her arms, Crowley finds himself with a new-born respect for the female species. Because Babylon grew that tiny little human inside her, and that is very, _very_ awe-inspiring. Really, he knows that they can, obviously, but actually watching it happen is both terrifying and, well... It is incredible. There are many words he can use to describe it, but they’ll never do the whole process justice, he guesses. He leans closer as Babylon turns slightly in her seat, looking up at him.

“Hey, I… I never asked you, but…” She trails off, looking down at her daughter, then up at Crowley again. “I want to name her Tonya.”

“That’s a nice name.” Crowley says, not sure why Babylon seem so nervous about it. The girl laughs, shaking her head. The baby seem to like that sound, as she wiggles a bit, eyes fluttering.

“After Anthony, after you.” He stops, just stares at her for a moment before blinking, exhaling like someone just punched him in the gut.

“_Oh._”

“Is that… not okay?” She asks nervously and he shakes his head furiously.

“No, no, it is, I just didn’t… expect it.” He never expected it because, well, she’s been talking to Oliver, right? Crowley rather doubts that the other man wants his daughter named after her uncle, not after that little talk they had when they were in their home village to ask why their parents had thrown Babylon out. And he voices this question, and Babylon scoffs.

“He isn’t here. He never was, but you were. She’s my daughter, and I want to name her Tonya.” She blinks up at him, noticing how he slides his sunglasses back in place and the set of his jaw.

“Are you… Are you _crying_?”

“Shut up.” He sniffles and Babylon laughs, sinking into her pillows as she starts to feel just how tired the entire ordeal has left her. She calls him a sap, and he tousles her hair affectionately as he tells her that this is the last time she’ll see him cry over something like this. She retorts with a sleepy “I don’t believe you,” before she has him put Tonya in her hospital crib.

“I’ll drop her.” He says anxiously and Babylon holds the bundle out resolutely.

“No you won’t.” He hesitates for a few moments, before he sees just how hard Babylon fights to keep her eyes open. He carefully takes the baby girl, ever so careful as he watches each step he takes before he puts the girl into the crib. Beelzebub choose that moment to come inside, and walks silently over to Crowley.

“All tucked out, huh?”

“She very nearly broke my hand.”

“Oh stop making it all about you.” Beelzebub rolls her eyes as she moves quietly over to the crib.

“Damn she’s small. And pudgy. And red. Is that normal?”

“She’s a baby. They’re all pudgy and red.”

“They are?” He knows she’s just shitting him, but he’s tired too, and leans back in his chair, flipping her off. Beelzebub chuckles, before her expression grows a bit grim.

“Oliver’s outside. Wants to talk to you.” Crowley is up on his feet in seconds, stalking out of the room, mind clear and fatigue gone within moments. He’s angry, so damn angry, because where the _hell_ has the kid been? Fair enough that he didn’t answer the calls, but at the very least he could have read the bloody texts the ginger had sent him. Beelzebub had to take a goddamn plane to get here, and she got here on time, the kid lives in London, he’s got no bloody excuse. The younger man nearly jumps when Crowley stomps out into the hall, marching towards him.

“Where the hell have you been, huh?” Oliver quickly holds up his hands, and Crowley stops, but the snarl is ever present on his face.

“I know, I should have been here, but you were here so-“

“That is no bloody excuse! You said you wanted to be a part of it, where the hell were you when she needed you?”

“You were here!”

“_Why does that matter-“_

“You scare the shit out of me, man!” Oliver exclaims and Crowley stops. “Ever since that talk we had back then, you terrify me. I want to be here with her, I really do. But you, not when you’re here too, I can’t. You _scare me_.” True, back then Crowley must have been really scary to Oliver, even though all he did was actually talk. There were no threats, neither verbal nor physical, he just wanted to make sure Oliver knew that he was just as much responsible for what happened as Babylon was. Babylon has told Crowley she wants to give it a try, because maybe that is what is best for the baby, and maybe it’s what’s best for them too, and Crowley promised to support her and be there for her. So what else can he do but take a step back.

“I just… I just need you to back off, okay? Leave us alone, so I can actually be with them, yeah? Just back off, give us space.” And that’s not really that much to ask, is it? Tonya needs a dad, doesn’t she? At least she needs a dad more than she needs an ever-present uncle.

“She lives with me, though. How’s that going to work out?” He croaks and Oliver rubs the back of his neck.

“I’ve found us an apartment. Soon as she’s able, she’ll move in there. Got it all figured out.” Oh he does, does he? Well… if this is what Babylon wants, then Crowley supports her. No matter how much it hurts. He swallows, not quite managing to gather the words at first, before he finally manages to will them out.

“Okay. Okay that’s fine.” No, no it’s not. “Once she’s able then. Right. She’s… She’s in there. She’s sleeping, but… yeah.” He manages to say before he walks past Oliver, down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the hospital. He returns to his, _their_, apartment, and just falls onto the couch, letting himself drift off before any of his emotions can catch up with him.

He doesn’t go back to the hospital, and he ignores the calls he gets. Four days later his door is almost broken down as Babylon storms inside and stops in front of the couch, not at all impressed with his rugged and unshaven appearance.

_‘Ah.’_ He thinks. ‘_She’s come to leave.’_ Come to get her things, thank him for his help, and move in with Oliver. It’s sad, really, considering Crowley’s so use to having her there, had been looking forward to Tonya being there with them, because that had been the original plan. Them all living together until Babylon could manage on her own.

“My bags.” She demands and he frowns.

“Your bags?”

“Yeah, help me get them in. I can’t do that _and_ carry Tonya at the same time.” He blinks up at her, confused.

“Aren’t you… moving out?”

“Moving out _where?”_ She demands and he is more confused than he’s been in a long, long time. He sits up cautiously.

“Oliver said you were going to move in with him? Where is he?”

“How the hell should I know? And I’m not moving in with him. Not like that, not without telling you first.” And the relief Crowley feels makes him sag against the couch, nearly slithering back down to lie, but a swift kick to the couch makes him jump.

“My bags. Help, please.”

“Right.” He pulls himself up and Babylon moves about, talking animatedly to her daughter.

“Remember uncle Anthony? Yeah, he’s a moron, but he’s a good moron. You’ll get used to it. Idiocy runs in the family, just not you and me.”

“Oi!” He calls out as he drags the bag, there is really only one bag, what the hell did she need help for and where the fuck is Beelzebub, inside.

“Don’t go telling her something like that!”

“Seriously, move out with Oliver? As if!” Babylon retorts and he snaps his mouth shut. “He wants to be part of me and Tonya’s life? He can damn well come and visit us here!”

Crowley has a feeling that he, by just existing within these walls, will keep that from happening. Because Oliver has made it clear that he has no intention of being around if Crowley is there. So the redhead makes a conscious decision to keep to coffee shops and the library at his university and his jobs just to give them some space. So they can talk, so they can work it out, so Oliver actually does what he said he would. Because Crowley promised her he would support her.

No matter how much that stings.


End file.
